1. Fireworks Mania
  2. News

Fireworks Mania News

v2023.12.7



Christmas is right around the corner, meaning New Years is right around the next corner :)
Following the tradition, I'm adding a 2024 cake.

### Added
- Added Cake 2024
- Added Finnish translator to credits

### Changed
- Added Christmas decorations for the holidays - Merry Christmas to the ones that celebrates :)


Did you see the multiplayer beta?
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826

YouTube | Twitter | Discord

- Enjoy!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/

Developer News - December 2023


Hey!

Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me :)

Public Multiplayer Beta is open! If you didn't read about it before, read this and see what its all about and how to try it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826


The focus on multiplayer continues and already I have added a bunch of new things.

Just for the fun of it I have added some Christmas props and some Santa characters, because it's Christmas time.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Pretty quickly after the public multiplayer beta opened, it was clear that spamming on public servers was an issue. Overtime I need to figure out a way to prevent it, while still not be too limiting. For now, I implemented a solution where the host can set a limit of how much each player can spawn.
I tested that together with the community in a live stream a few days ago, was pretty fun :)
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks for the ones you joined and the ones that tried, but ran into some issues.

Talking about issues. As you already know if you have tried the multiplayer beta, there are still a lot of issues, bugs, things to improve etc. That's why the beta will continue in all of 2024, for hopefully a full release in December 2024 - fingers crossed :)

New Years is approaching, so its also time for me to do a new 2024 cake as I use to. It should really have been out now, both in the normal version of the game and in multiplayer - however - I have been feeling kind of under the weather the last days, so the energy haven't been there for game dev after my day job :(

I'm still feeling kind of low on energy, but I try to make it and get it out as soon as I can.



It's soon fireworks seasons for much people with New Years around the corner, so you hope are enjoying some virtual fireworks in Fireworks Mania these days, either in the normal version or in the multiplayer beta version.

YouTube | Twitter | Discord

- Enjoy!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/

v2023.12.1



Merry Christmas! 🎅☃️🎄

This is a small update to the game to enable Christmas decorations and inform about the optional MULTIPLAYER BETA you can try out if you want :)

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/6242613536165636826

### Added
- Added "Join Multiplayer Beta Now" banner to MainMenu to inform that this is now an option for the ones who want :)

### Changed
- Added Christmas decorations for the holidays - Merry Christmas to the ones that celebrates :)

YouTube | Twitter | Discord

- Enjoy!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/

Join Multiplayer Beta Now!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

TIP: If you are just here to figure out how you switch to the multiplayer beta - just scroll to the bottom. However, I recommend at least getting back and read a bit about what a beta is and what mindset you should have when joining a beta.

Finally the day has come! 🤓

Some of you have been waiting for this since the release in 2020, some since January 2023 where I started on multiplayer and some of you have no idea what I'm talking about :)

Anyway, today is the day you can JOIN THE MULTIPLAYER BETA and play with your friends in Fireworks Mania!

As mentioned in a previous post the plan is to have the multiplayer beta running from now until release, which I currently plan to be in dec. 2024.
So we will be in this beta stage for a year - assuming all goes well.

[h2]Keep in mind - It's a beta[/h2]
When joining a beta you need to keep in mind that its an unfinished product.

Therefore, it is important that you join and play the game in this stage, with the right mindset.

You need to be ready to adapt to changes, because this version of the game change a lot and much more frequently than the regular version of the game. You also need to be ready to live with missing features and many more bugs than you would in the regular version of the game.

However, if you can live with the above you also get at chance to be a much more active part of the development of this game and be at the forefront of the development of the game.

Its due to early adapter like you that this game is what it is today and in the future. Thank you for that.

[h2]Remember to keep an eye on the News page[/h2]
As I'm updating this version of the game a lot, I will not be posting patch notes here on Steam for each version. Instead, I have created a "News" page in the Main Menu in the game, where you can see changelog and other relevant information that you need to know.

Therefore, keep an eye on this page each time you start the game as it will change over time as there might be some really useful information there.


[h2]Known issues and bugs[/h2]
First off, there are many bugs, don't worry, that's why its a beta, but as of writing, 1st of December 2023, there are two very important known bugs that I need you to know about.

[UPDATE: This have been fixed]
First of all, for many people when they Quit the game, it crashes. I'm looking into it.

[UPDATE: This have partly been fixed]
Secondly, and this is the big one, there currently is a bug in Unity, where the more audio files you have in the game the lower the FPS. The FPS will even go down overtime due to this bug.
It's a REALLY annoying bug, as it's something internally in Unity that I can't do anything about.
I'm in dialog with Unity about it and hope they fix it soon.

One way to minimize this bug, is to lower the amount of mods you enabled in your games at the time, especially fireworks mods. More fireworks means more sounds and the sooner you loose FPS.

Loosing FPS in a game, is almost the worst...so I'm really not satisfied with this! I'm doing what I can in dialog with Unity to get them to fix it, but I don't know when that will be.
Again, keep an eye on the News page in game, because that's where news about this will be posted.


[h2]Not included in public beta[/h2]
[h3]Mod Tools[/h3]
There is a new Mod Tools in the works to support more multiplayer features and in general more features. However, its still to early to make public, so therefore, no multiplayer Mod Tools yet.
I'll post in the Workshop part of the Discord once its ready to try out.
However, right now I don't expect that to be before summer 2024.

[h3]Dedicated server[/h3]
Once you start playing the multiplayer beta you might see a few "dedicated" servers in the server list. This is obvious because I'm also working on adding dedicated server support, however, that too is still to early to open up to too many people. So that will stay in closed beta for a while.
However, you can still enjoy joining these servers, you just cannot host them yourself yet.

[h2]Submit mod to multiplayer beta workshop[/h2]
Another thing you will notice when you start playing multiplayer beta is that the content of the workshop in the game isn't the same as in the regular version of the game.
See more info about how to submit mods here on my Discord.

[h2]How to join multiplayer beta[/h2]
To join the multiplayer beta you need to switch to the "multiplayer-beta" branch here on Steam.

Right click on Fireworks Mania --> Properties:


Click Betas and select "multiplayer-beta" from the dropdown:


Once you close the window, Steam will update your game to the right version and will look like this in the menu:


If you wanna go back to play the regular version, you just set the beta dropdown back to "None" and you are back. You can switch back and forth as much as you like.

See you in game 🤓

YouTube | Twitter | Discord

- Enjoy!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/

Nominate Fireworks Mania

Hey!

Closing in on year 5 working on this game in my spare time - I'll say its a good candidate for a "Labor of love" award 🤓

YouTube | Twitter | Discord

Thanks in advance 🤓

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/